CBA Part 3: Arbitration

Under the new CBA, MLB changed its rules related to arbitration for players eligible for free agency. In years past, teams would choose whether or not to offer arbitration to their players eligible for free agency, and MLB classified players ranked in the top 20 percent at their position (as ranked by the Elias Sports Bureau) as Type A free agents. Those ranked in the 20-40 percentile at their position were classified as Type B free agents.

If a team offered its Type A free agents arbitration, and he declined the offer to sign with another team, the team that offered its player arbitration would receive two compensation picks. The free agent’s former team would receive the first pick in the June amateur draft from the team that ultimately signed the Type A free agent (if the signing team finished in the bottom 15 teams, it would not lose its first round pick, but instead its second round pick). The free agent’s former team would also receive a “sandwich” pick between the first and second rounds of the draft.

If a team offered its Type B free agent arbitration, and the free agent declined the offer to sign with another team, then the team offering arbitration would receive a single compensation “sandwich” pick between the first and second rounds in the June draft. The signing team would not lose any of draft picks.

So, looking at things from another angle, a team that signed a Type A free agent away from another team would lose its first pick in the draft to the team from which the free agent was signed.

Under the new CBA, the arbitration system has been totally revamped. Now, any offer of arbitration to a free agent must be in an amount of the average annual salary of the top 125 MLB players (or top 20 percent). This currently comes out to roughly $12 million per season.

So, under the new system, teams will weigh whether or not their free agents are worth at least $12 million a season. If a player thinks he can get more on the open market, he will decline arbitration and gamble on a better pay day elsewhere. So, the only teams that offer their free agents that $12 million in arbitration will be eligible for a compensation pick from the signing team, if their free agent declines arbitration to sign elsewhere.

This new system will most help free agent relievers who were formerly classified as Type A free agents. This year, there were eight Type A free agent relievers: Ryan Madson, Heath Bell, Matt Capps, Francisco Rodriguez, Octavio Dotel, Takashi Saito, Darren Oliver, and Francisco Cordero. How many of these guys are worth $12 million a season? In past years, if guys like Dotel and Oliver declined arbitration, any team signing them would lose their first round draft pick (or second round, depending on how well the signing team finished the prior season). This practice discouraged teams from signing Type A relievers. Many teams would not want to forfeit their first round draft picks to sign guys like Darren Oliver or Octavio Dotel?

Under the new system, the Cardinals would have needed to offer Dotel $12.4 million in arbitration; then, Dotel would have needed to decline that arbitration offer and sign elsewhere in order for the Cardinals to receive the compensation pick from the signing team. In reality, Dotel signed a one-year contract with the Tigers (with an option for 2013) for $3 million.

CBA Part 2: Playoff Reconfiguration

Major League Baseball’s latest collective bargaining agreement (CBA) will expand the playoffs by adding an additional wild card team in each league. Now, both leagues will advance five playoff teams each season.

Under the new alignment, each league will have its two wild card teams square off in a one-game playoff to see which team will then advance to each league’s division series. Aside from this “play-in” game between the two wild card teams, the rest of the playoff structure will be same: a best-of-five Division Series, a best-of-seven Championship Series, and a best-of-seven World Series.

MLB adopted its playoff system in 1969 with two division champions squaring off in a Championship Series; and, in 1994 MLB realigned and expanded the playoffs to include a champion from each of three divisions plus a wildcard team.

How many additional playoff berths would the Mariners have had, had this second wild card been added back in 1994? Well, it would have depended on some tie-breakers.

In 2007, the Mariners finished 88-74 (.543 winning %), which tied the Detroit Tigers for 5th in the American League. So, the Mariners would have played a one-game playoff against the Tigers, with the winner advancing as the 2nd AL wild card team. The Mariners, if they would have won the one-game play-in against the Tigers, would have faced off against the Yankees in the wild-card playoff game.

In 2003, the Mariners finished 93-69, three games behind Oakland in the AL West. 93 wins would have qualified the Mariners for the playoffs as the 2nd AL wild card team. They would have faced off against the Red Sox in the wild-card playoff game.

In 2002, the Mariners finished 93-69, ten games behind Oakland, and six games behind the Angels (who won the wild card). But, the Mariners still tied for the 5th best record in the AL. They would have squared off against the Red Sox in a one-game play-in for a chance to reach the one-game AL wild-card playoff game. Three of the four AL West teams could have qualified for the playoffs.

In 1996, the Mariners finished 85-76 (.528 %). Both the Red Sox and White Sox finished 85-77 (.525%). The Mariners had a game postponed at some point during the season that was never made up because it had no effect on the playoff picture. Under the new playoff structure, the Mariners would have played that last game. Had they won that postponed game, the Mariners would have qualified for the playoffs as the second wild card team at 86-76. Had they lost that postponed game, they would have been locked in a 3-way tie with the Red Sox and White Sox.

The three-way tie would have played out like this. The Commissioner would have conducted a draw, designating the teams A, B, and C. First, team A would play team B with team A as the home team. The following day, the winner of the that game would play team C with team C as the away team. The winner of the game on the second day would advance as the second AL wild card team. Because the Mariners and Red Sox were each 13-12 and the White Sox were 11-13 against the other tied teams (Mariners/Red Sox/White Sox), the Mariners and Red Sox would draw lots. The winner would choose its designation (A, B, or C) first; the loser of the draw would pick its designation second, with the White Sox being assigned the third designation.

Had MLB applied this latest playoff configuration since 1994, the Mariners would have definitely qualified for the playoffs at least one other time, 2003. They would have had additional tie-breaker opportunities to reach the playoffs three more times: 2007, 2002, and 1996.

The new playoff structure should keep winning teams in the playoff picture later into the season. At least, that’s what MLB hopes.